BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams both fell to nationally ranked University of Florida on Saturday.
After falling to Florida State the previous day, the men’s team (0-2) fought the Gators from start to finish, but ultimately lost 185-115. The women’s team moved to (1-2) on the year with the 171-122 defeat.
“From a competitive standpoint, I am thrilled with the decision to put yesterday behind us and stand up and compete well against a nationally ranked opponent like Florida,” Head Swimming Coach Dave Geyer said. “The men were able to work off some of the rust from yesterday and had some outstanding individual performances.”
The men’s team was able to claim six individual victories against a Gator’s team that enjoyed depth in all aspects of the pool.
For the consecutive day, junior Raymond DePauda shined in the 100 butterfly and the 100 backstroke. After finishing second against Florida State in both events with times of 49.96 and 51.24 respectively, DePauda took gold in both events with a 100 fly time of 49.56 and a 100 back stime of 50.30.
Junior Craig Hamilton, one of the top distance swimmers in the nation, touched the wall first with a time of 9:16.30 in the 1000 free.
Junior Andrei Tuomola had a good day in the sprint competitions. He finished first in the 100 free with a blistering time of 45.44 and finished second in the 50 free with a mark of 20.85.
After sweeping the breast events against Florida State yesterday, sophomore Ricardo Alvarado Jiminez almost duplicated his success. He ended the 200 breast with a time of 2:03.17 in first place and the 100 breast in second with a time of 55.64.
Senior diver Matt Vieke scored 317.77 on the one-meter springboard and 340.65 on the three-meter, which put him in second and third respectively.
Freshman Michael Young earned his second consecutive 200 back victory with a time of 1:50.02.
The Lady Tigers notched four individual victories against the Gators. Junior Sara Haley and sophomore Bussey paced the Tigers and earned 18 and 16 points respectively for the Lady Tigers.
“The women rebounded well, but we are just short in depth right now,” Geyer said. “Torrey Bussey had two challenging days and finished with her best performance of the weekend, winning the 200 individual medley.”
Bussey’s performance in the 200 IM was good enough for first in the 2:03.83. She also contributed with a pair of second and third place finishes respectively in the 200 breast (1:43.03) and 100 breast (1:03.90).
Haley scored a pair of victories in the 200 free (1:49.47) and the 100 fly (55.09). For the season, Haley has touched the wall first in the 200 free, 500 free, 100 fly and 200 fly while playing a key part in both the freestyle and medley relays.
Junior Audrey Lawson finished first in the 200 fly with a time of 2:02.51.
“We are ready to come back home and work on our details and building into our season,” Geyer said. “The men face Auburn next week and then we have two weeks until our next duel meet. It gives a great time period to get some great training in prior to our midseason invitationals.”
The men’s team will host Auburn next Friday on Oct. 21 at 2 p.m. (CT). Admission to the LSU Natatorium is free.
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